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GB-24 Sun and Moon

日月 〔日月〕 rì yuè

Alternate names: 胆募 dǎn mù, Gallbladder Alarm; 神光 shén guāng, Spirit Light

Channel: GB, foot lesser yáng (shào yáng) gallbladder channel

Modern location: An acupoint located on the chest, in the seventh intercostal space, as close to the midclavicular line as the costal cartilage will allow.

Classical location: Five fēn below Cycle Gate (LR-14). From The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (针灸大成 zhēn jiǔ dà chéng)

Local anatomy: The 7th intercostal artery and vein. The 7th intercostal nerve.

Action: Courses gallbladder and qì; transforms damp-heat; harmonizes the central burner.

Modern indications: Retching and vomiting; acid swallowing; pain in the chest and rib-side; jaundice.

Classical indications: Pain in the ribs; pain in the stomach duct; retching and vomiting; acid swallowing; jaundice; belching; abdominal distension; hypersomnia; sighing and sorrowfulness; heat in the smaller abdomen.

Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.3‒0.5 cùn oblique insertion. Moxa: 5 cones; pole 10‒20 min.

Point groups: Alarm point (mù xué) of the gallbladder; intersection point (jiāo huì xué) of the gallbladder and spleen channels.

Point name meaning:

The sun represents yáng and the moon yin. GB-24 represents the meeting of yīn and yáng in two ways. First, it is an intersection (jiāo huì) point of the foot shao yáng and foot tai yīn channels. Second, as stated in the Nàn Jīng, 67th Difficulty: alarm () points are located on the yīn [side of the body]. Thus, alarm () points are yīn in nature, while this particular one is located on a yáng channel.

Classical Chinese texts call the left eye sun and the right eye moon. The eyes are associated with the liver, and, through exterior-interior relationship, with the gallbladder. This name Sun and Moon reflects the relation of GB-24 to the eyes by way of association with the liver.

The gallbladder governs decision making, and this point can facilitate clarity of thought. The Chinese word for clear is (míng), which is a composite made up of the characters for sun (日) and moon (月). Thus, just as the sun and moon make things clear on earth, this point can help to make things clear in the psyche.

Both the liver and the gallbladder are associated with the wood phase, in turn associated with the east. The sun and moon rising in the east can be correlated to the gallbladder and liver, and provide another association for the naming of this point as Sun and Moon.

The alternate names for GB-23 and GB-24 show us that disagreement exists as to which is the alarm () point of the gallbladder. Most sources give GB-24, but the The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (针灸大成 zhēn jiǔ dà chéng) gives GB-23. See acupoint names: origins, meanings, and translations.

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